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More Filipinos say they are not poor anymore

More Filipinos say they are not poor anymore

By Juzel Danganan

MANILA (Philippines News Agency) — One in three Filipinos or about 31 percent of the population now consider themselves not poor, the latest survey of public opinion pollster Social Weather Stations (SWS) announced over the weekend.

According to the SWS’ 2017 Fourth Quarter Social Weather Survey done on Dec. 8-16, 2017, the 31 percent “who transitioned out of poverty” consists of 17 percent who used to be poor five or more years ago (“usually non-poor”), and over 14 percent escaped poverty one to four years ago (“newly non-poor”).

“The figure for December 2017 (14.1 percent) is the highest rate of newly non-poor families since the 13.8 percent recorded when the question was first surveyed in December 2014,” SWS said.

The survey found that more than half of the Filipino population, or 56 percent, now consider themselves non-poor, while 44 percent think they are poor.

Half of the 56 percent who said they were non-poor, or 25.1 percent of the respondents, said they were “always non-poor.”

On the other hand, of the 44 percent who rated themselves as poor families, 31 percent said they were “always poor,” 6.4 percent used to be not poor five or more years ago, and 6 percent just fell into poverty one to four years ago.

The SWS said poverty hit a record-high of 50 percent in December 2015, but fell to 42 percent in September 2016.

The survey had 1,200 respondents, consisting of 300 each from Metro Manila, the rest of Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao. It has an error margin of ±2.5% for national percentages, and ±6% each for Metro Manila, Balance Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao. (PNA)

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